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Mario Andretti won at Sebring in 1970 aboard a Ferrari 512S. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Sebring countdown: The 20 greatest battles

March 11, 2012

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Editor's note: This is the first in a five-part Autoweek series counting down—in our opinion—the 20 best 12 Hours of Sebring races since the event's inception. Check back each day this week for a new installment as we make our way to the No. 1 Sebring fight of all time.

No. 20: Sebring continued its habit of hosting inaugural races for new championships when the American Le Mans Series in 1999 kicked off with the 12 Hours. BMW was not even supposed to be there with its new Williams F1-designed-and-built V12 LMR. Yet after a successful endurance test at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the German manufacturer made a late decision to contest Sebring with two cars run by the Schnitzer team.

The V12 LMR driven by Tom Kristensen, JJ Lehto and Jörg Müller came out on top in a thrilling fight with the best of Dyson Racing's Riley & Scotts, highlighting its credentials for the race it was designed to win—the 24 Hours of Le Mans. BMW went on to take the biggest prize in sports-car racing, and the 12 Hours became the de rigueur warm-up event for the French endurance classic.

No. 19: Stefan Johansson had never so much as seen Sebring International Raceway when he in 1984 signed up to drive the Reinhold Joest Porsche 935J, nor had he driven one of the fire-breathing Group 5 silhouette racers. That would not have been an issue for a driver who made a name for himself in sports cars the previous year—had he arrived on time.

The problem for the Swede and his German teammate, Hans Heyer, was that they became stranded in Europe and did not get to Florida until race morning. Johansson and Heyer were paired with Colombian Mauricio de Narvaez, but as the race wore on and their Joest Porsche moved up the leader board, the late arrivals shared the driving duties. The faster prototypes all encountered problems, and Joest came through to score the first of a string of Sebring wins.

No. 18: Porsche would make a habit of winning big sports-car enduros; witness its 16 overall triumphs at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But back in the late 1950s, it was more of a class challenger than an overall contender.

That all changed at Sebring in 1960, partly through good fortune: The little Porsche 718 RS60, run by Jo Bonnier's factory-supported team, wasn't the fastest car of the 65 entries, but it did prove to be reliable.

The Maserati Tipo 61 “Birdcage” driven by Dan Gurney and Stirling Moss looked to be on course for victory, leading for much of the first eight hours. A broken rear axle eventually forced its retirement, allowing Hans Hermann and Olivier Gendebien to come through to take an unlikely win by a massive 11 laps.

No. 17: Mario Andretti never had a problem motivating himself to win big races; just look at his record in Indy cars, Formula One and sports cars. But Sebring 1970 was a race he really wanted to win, or rather prevent someone else from winning.

Andretti and teammate Arturo Merzario appeared to be on course for victory aboard their Ferrari 512S, stretching to a 13-lap lead before having transmission failure. The racing legend then swapped to the sister Ferrari, joining the delayed Ignazio Giunti and Nino Vaccarella. His job was to catch and pass the Porsche 908/2 driven by Peter Revson and racing-mad movie star Steve McQueen, who, Andretti reckoned, had no business winning a major international sports-car race. Andretti completed his task and even had time to make a last-gasp splash-and-dash fuel stop on the way to a one-minute win.